by Enid Titan
The girl hurried away, her cloak flailing behind her. Daphne watched her disappear and then she turned to walk upstairs to her bedroom. Poppy slept peacefully. Daphne slammed the door behind her as she entered. Poppy didn’t budge.
“Idiot,” Daphne whispered, secretly hoping Poppy would wake up to at least hear her insult.
Poppy didn’t wake up until the next morning. She didn’t have time to think about the night before because she had an exam in only twenty minutes and she’d hardly studied. Shit! At least it was only mathematics, a subject where she was stronger than most of the other students.
Thank you, Uncle Monty, for forcing me to go to math camp when I was a kid, Poppy thought.
She hurriedly laced up her corset. As she dressed, her hands grazed parts of her body where the boys touched her and she was immediately taken back to the flat in the center of Vortha. Their touch hadn't vanished from her skin. She could call back every sweet memory of their togetherness.
She'd nearly gone too far...
It couldn’t be a dream now, could it? Poppy didn’t think so. She laced up her corset and dressed, throwing her cloak over her shoulders. Penelope didn’t think she’d ever properly adjust to the frigid weather on Devor, but at least her face wasn’t always turning bright pink now the second she stepped outside.
There was still the issue of trudging through the snow to get to classes. Since she was the only student smaller than everyone else, no one bothered to clear the paths and she had to trek like a Mongolian yak through waist-deep snow.
When she caught sight of Jason in math, he flashed her a cheeky wink. Poppy hurriedly glanced down at her paper. Great. What happened had definitely not been her imagination, then.
She felt like a complete idiot about letting them kiss her in the first place, but that? At eighteen, she counted as an adult and it was her right to do whatever she wanted with her body. One guy, two guys, three guys, it was all her choice technically. But getting naked in front of three boys at once simply wasn’t done. Even during Earth’s sexual revolution in the early 2000s, such activity had been… sluttish.
At least throughout the test, Poppy didn’t have to worry about obscuring her thoughts. To prevent cheating, their professor had a dampening crystal in front of the class. The pink rock apparently blocked psychic energy and could be found in the caves around Devor. Given the number of telepathic creatures decorating the ice planet's wild tundra, such materials came in handy.
Poppy finished early, but reviewed her problems over and over again, mostly because she wanted to make sure the three boys were long gone before she left.
Castor finished his exam first and disappeared. Then Ajax. Jason struggled through most of the problems and he didn’t finish until the exam bell rang. Poppy breathed a sigh of relief and handed her paper in, taking the long way back to the dorms to avoid them.
They’d probably scurried into the dining hall along with everyone else to talk about the test. Poppy just wanted to be alone.
24
Settled & Secretive
Poppy hadn’t seen Hecate or Daphne in around a day. She’d spent most of her day distracted and then slept through the night. Ugh. She hated missing out. As she pushed the door open to her bedroom, an envelope sat on Penelope’s bed. She wrinkled her nose and opened it. A handwritten note from Hecate. Weird.
“Meet me at the Temple tonight after study hours. Don't sign out, just be careful. Come alone. I think I can help you make a breakthrough in moving the rings. --H”
Weird. Poppy hadn’t spoken to Hecate about moving the ring in days. She wanted to see her though. If anyone could understand what was happening with the boys, it was Hecate. She was sweet, but difficult to pin down. She studied hard and when she wasn’t studying, she spent a lot of time in Vortha’s city center with the new junior girl she'd fallen for. Hecate always had a new girl in her life.
Poppy stuffed the note in her pocket and sat at her desk. She ordered food from the panel despite her dwindling credits. She spent most of the week eating alone and spent most of her credits on rare Earth recipes she had to program herself.
Poppy ordered the cheapest Devoran food that resembled "normal" Earth food -- an icy sushi dish with raw bluefish and red rice wrapped in silver seaweed.
After eating, Poppy picked up her pad to send a message to Uncle Monty. She hadn’t spoken to him in over a month and she missed him. Maybe they could catch up in Vortha after she met up with Hecate.
Hey Uncle M,
Miss you. School is going well but I’m a pretty shitty telepath.
Poppy sighed. She hated to sound like a downer. She restarted her message to Monty.
Hey Uncle M,
Miss you. School is going well. I’m headed to the temple tonight with a friend. Can we meet up after? I miss… Earth. And dad. And mom. My study hours end 3 Devoran hours after sunset and then I’ll be in the temple for around an hour after that. In your last message, you asked if I made any friends here and I have. It’s pretty weird here. People aren’t friendly like in New Manhattan. See you later, if you get this. Their “email” is super weird. Love, P
Sending the message cost another 5 credits. In the evening, Poppy met Jason in the library alone. He didn’t mention what happened the last time they were together or alone. He was… normal. As normal as an alien can get.
«You okay, jazad?»
«Yeah.»
«Good. I botched the math exam.»
«I'm a shitty teacher, then»
«No. It’s my fault that I was distracted.»
He gave her a funny look as he said “distracted”. Poppy bit down on her lower lip and focused on the blank paper Jason slid in front of her.
«I don’t get it. What am I supposed to see here?»
«Focus,» Jason instructed, «It’s telepathic.»
«It’s a blank piece of paper.»
«Don’t be stubborn, jazad. Breathe. You can do this.»
He touched his chest. Poppy mimed his deep breathing and her eyes fluttered shut.
«Good. Do what you must to focus.»
«I feel stupid.»
«It works.»
Poppy’s eyes reopened and Jason nodded and pointed to the paper again.
«What do you see now?»
«A word...»
Jason smirked.
«Read it out loud.»
“Booger.”
Jason laughed out loud. If the library weren’t empty, they would have attracted glares and disapproving sideways glances.
“Real mature, Jason.”
He leaned in real close, “You said booger out loud.”
“Shut up!”
“You did good, jazad.”
“I’m going to the temple tonight.”
“Why? With a guy?”
“No… not with a guy,” Poppy scoffed.
“With who?”
“Hecate. She wants to meet down there.”
“Weird.”
“Why is that weird?"
“No reason.”
“Okay… You’re such a weirdo.”
“No, I’m not. I just… It’s not safe for a foreigner on this planet.”
“You’re half the danger.”
Jason grinned, “I’m not that bad.”
“You're a nightmare.”
“You weren’t complaining the other day.”
“Jason…”
“Did you really think I wouldn’t bring it up?”
“I should have never let that happen.”
«That’s not what you really think, is it, jazad?»
«Ugh, shut up. I’d better get back to my room for study hours.»
«Keep the paper. You can use it to practice.»
«How are you going to put… you know, words on it.»
He tapped the side of his head.
«I’m a telepath, jazad. That's kind of the point.»
«Whatever.»
«Stay safe tonight, love.»
Love. That was diffe
rent. Poppy’s cheeks turned red again.
«You’re reading too much into it,» Jason said.
«Bye, Jason.»
Poppy snatched the paper and stuffed it in her bag. Jason offered to walk her back to her dorm, but Poppy couldn’t think of what to talk to him about for the entire walk over, so she declined his offer. The last thing she wanted was Jason bringing up their kiss or the way he had his tongue between her legs. She definitely couldn't risk kissing him again.
“Suit yourself," Jason agreed.
Poppy arrived in her room for study hours and Hecate wasn’t there. She sometimes had a cello lesson during study hours. They were supposed to meet up after, so Poppy didn't think much of Hecate's absence.
Daphne sat at her desk, smirking to herself and writing in her ethics notebook. What kind of freak gets that excited over an ethics essay? Poppy must have done a good job of concealing that thought because Daphne ignored Poppy when she pushed the door open. Poppy sat at her desk with the telepathic paper. Jason’s practice messages were banal and Poppy could only receive a percentage of them.
History of Devor.
Jason, Duke of South Avorax of Devor I, heir to the fortune of Thalassan Crystals.
Be careful, jazad.
Poppy’s head hurt. She stuffed the paper into her desk and pulled out her pad to write her Devoran literature essay. Reading Devoran literature was unsatisfying. Analyzing it was worse. Poppy finished up study hours and then packed her bag, preparing to meet Hecate at the temple. For university students, they still had so much structure that Poppy found herself exhausted by the time she had any time to herself.
She was uneasy about not signing out but trusted Hecate. If Uncle Monty got her message in time, meeting up with him afterward guaranteed that she'd be safe.
Why had Hecate been so mysterious about meeting her there? And where had she been for the past few days? Poppy slipped on an extra warm pair of socks and bundled up beneath her cloak. She walked the paths to the temple alone, the wind pushing her deeper into the dark icy city.
25
Psychic Attack
The twin suns never bathed Devor in bright light. The skies were blue, similar to earth, but the ice was never awash with yellow light. The twin suns were so far away from Devor that the planet appeared permanently dim, especially during First Winter. Nights were frigid, dark, and the streets were empty.
Devor at night had been dangerous until fifty years prior. Uncle Monty explained everything during the journey to the planet. Terrible beasts lurked outside Vortha, but since the new Emperor, Titan I of Devor, ascended to power, the city had been cordoned off at night by a giant wall of ice and Devoran volunteer guards defended the city from the tundra beasts.
Vortha was one of three cities safe to travel at night. Still, venturing out in the darkness hadn't been normalized in Devoran culture. Poppy encountered no one on the way to the temple.
She saw the temple from about a half-mile off. The blue flames illuminated the temple dome. Then there was the constant telepathic vibration from the centuries-old flames. Monty, Pallas, Hecate, Achilles and everyone else who had the chance warned Poppy about dangers lurking on Devor, but as she stared at the blue temple flames in the distance, Poppy shrugged off her fears.
She'd move the rings eventually. She'd find a way to fit in, and soon, she'd return to Earth, proud of what she’d done on the planet.
Poppy froze when she heard a loud howling in the distance. Glacier wolves. Uncle Monty had waxed poetic about those too. On one of his visits to the distant planet, he’d seen one from a shuttle pod.
“Breathtaking, Penelope,” he gasped, “Simply breathtaking. The beast was about the size of a car… and its howl…”
Chills ran down Poppy’s spine. At some point, those beasts would have run amok in the city, making it unsafe for her to even walk to the temple. She was getting close and trudging through the deep snow warmed her up as she approached the blue fires. Another howl sounded through the city. Poppy wished she had some sort of self-defense. It felt stupid since there was no way a wolf, no matter how big, could climb over the walls surrounding the city.
In New-Man, she always had a taser at least. CJ was pretty good defense and willing to kick ass when he needed to. She wasn’t used to feeling… safe. Even when there was nothing to be afraid of, Poppy's mind played tricks on her. A shiver rolled down her spine like a drop of water.
A few feet off from the temple, Poppy heard footsteps. She turned to look over her shoulder and saw a looming Devoran with a cloak over their head. She didn’t detect the person telepathically which wasn’t unusual. The species was both quiet and private when they wanted to be. On Earth, at least in the countryside, she would have offered a polite good evening. These manners didn’t feel right on Devor. Poppy kept walking, even as the Devoran got closer.
She glanced over her shoulder again and saw that the Devoran had been joined by another. Poppy shrugged off her rising anxiety. Those were earth fears. There were no dangers like this on Devor.
When Poppy turned her head back to face the temple, she gasped. There were two other cloaked figures in front of her.
Don’t freak out, Poppy. This is normal.
But she couldn’t see the faces beneath the cloaks. No faces. Poppy’s throat tightened.
«jazad… jazad… jazad...»
The chanting didn’t only come from one mind, but all of them. Five or six minds. Maybe more. Poppy’s head hurt instantly. She grabbed the sides of her head.
«jazad… jazad… jazad...»
These people weren’t here by chance. They waited in the shadows for her. Pinpricks in the side of her head transformed into sharp knives. Poppy fell to her knees.
«Kneel, jazad,» a gravely, demonic voice intruded.
Poppy screamed and grabbed her head.
“STOP! STOP!”
«You do not belong on our homeworld. You will die before we allow an outsider on our planet.»
Poppy screamed, hoping that someone would come to help her. The deserted streets offered no relief. Another glacier wolf howled in the distance. The sound echoed in Poppy’s head. The howl echoed and sounded throughout her skull and the knives twisted into her head.
«jazad...jazad...jazad...»
The knives twisted and then cut scenes of visions flashed into Poppy’s head. Fires. Earth. Glaciers melting. Flames. Burning. Poppy’s lungs filled with ash. It wasn’t real. It wasn’t real. There was no ash. There was no fire. A hot explosion ripped through Poppy’s lungs and then her skull.
Blood trickled out of Poppy’s nose as the psychic attack intensified.
“STOP! PLEASE STOP!”
Poppy tasted a few drops of blood on her tongue. Blue hands appeared from beneath the cloaks and rose towards the sky. Electricity crackled between their fingertips. A ring of electric telepathic energy crackled and raged and the rage burrowed into Penelope’s skull.
She could only think of one name to scream.
“JASON! JASON! HELP ME!”
“CAS! CASTOR!”
Knives pierced her skull burrowing into her ear and jaw. Poppy struggled against the psychic attack as powerless as a mealworm on the end of a jagged hook. She might have been able to prevent an attack from one person, but not from five...or six.
“AJAX! CASTOR! JASON!”
The nosebleed stopped, but Poppy couldn’t stand. Her feet wouldn't support her. Penelope's head burned and her screaming only grew louder. She faded from consciousness. As her body sank into the fluffy snow, flakes dropped onto her nose. Footsteps echoed in the earth beneath her head. Her legs twitched but refused to move. She felt them. Jason. Castor. Ajax. They were there.
Poppy lay limp in the snow, eyes closed, mind empty.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” Castor yelled.
That was the last thing Poppy heard, Castor’s voice, strong and protective. The cloaks scattered away from the temple and the three boys rushed to Penelope’s side. They kneeled next to her, surrou
nding her.
«We need to get her out of here,» Castor said.
«She was loud. Someone might have already heard her. If the guards come, they’ll think we attacked her.»
«Someone did.»
Ajax was right. Someone had attacked her, but they hadn’t just concealed their faces from Penelope. Her tongue sank into her jaw. She wanted to say something, to explain how she'd ended up here. No words emerged.
«We can’t find out who it was if we get arrested. Come, let’s bring her to your parents’ flat.»
Before the boys could say anything, a short man came running towards them.
“Hey, you there! Is that my niece?” Uncle Monty, draped in an emerald cloak approached the boys.
They grabbed onto Poppy’s hand and Jason teleported all of them.
26
Kidnapped By Her Boys
“Where am I?” Poppy croaked.
She rolled over onto her left side and faced Castor.
“Ah!”
“Sorry,” he mumbled, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“What are you doing here? What am I doing here? Where am I?”
Poppy sat upright, memories flooding into her head — painful memories.
“We’re in Vortha still. Jason’s parents’ place.”
The light flickered on. Jason stood in the doorway.
“Ajax is sleeping on the couch. How’s your head?”
Poppy’s hand rushed to her nose. No blood. They must have cleaned her up and… changed her.
“Did you take my clothes off?”
“You couldn’t breathe. We had to release pressure on your lungs.”
“I feel violated.”
“Well that wasn’t our fault, jazad,” Jason grumbled.
“DON’T CALL ME THAT,” Poppy yelled.
Jason’s eyes widened. She never spoke to him like that.
“Sorry.”
Poppy’s hands shook. Castor sidled next to her and put his arm around her. Normally, she would have thrust him off, but holding onto him there relaxed her. It was nice to be held. He stroked her hair.